The IMF’s in-house watchdog has criticised the fund over a lack of consistency in some of its biggest bailouts of the past two decades, calling on officials to address claims they succumb to political pressures to back big, risky repeat borrowers.
Rules for outsized loans to countries such as Argentina, Ukraine and Egypt needed an overhaul as “perceptions of a lack of even-handedness” were affecting the fund’s credibility, the IMF’s independent evaluation office said in a report on Thursday.
The report casts light on one of the thorniest issues facing the IMF, as the Washington-based institution comes under pressure to balance mounting debt problems in more and more developing economies with the taxing of its resources by a small group of countries that it is struggling to wean off its support.